Published 10:00 pm, Tuesday, February 24, 2004

That's the advice tribal police had for students at Quil Ceda Elementary School on the Tulalip Reservation after recent reports of cougar sightings near the school.

"If they see a cougar, the kids should turn and face it, then walk away very slowly, keeping an eye on it," Tulalip police Chief Jay Goss said. "If they turn at all, the animal might consider them game."

Goss said live cougar traps had been set in the area and that tribal fish and wildlife officers are discussing the possibility of bringing in hunters to kill the animals.

"We'll try reasonable options first, but if those fail, we'll do what we need to do," he said.

The police chief said the latest sighting reported near the school was last week.

In late January, cougar tracks were also found around the cyclone fence that surrounds the school.

Quil Ceda Elementary School administrators have sent home brochures describing cougar habitat and behavior patterns.

Principal Jeanne Tennis says normal procedure after a notification of a sighting is to call the tribal police, close the playing fields, notify adults and supervisors at the school, notify district headquarters and send letters home to parents.

Tennis said sightings between the school and the Tulalip Casino are not uncommon.

"We are fortunate to have a school that is situated in a wooded area," Tennis wrote in an e-mail yesterday. "We share the environment with nature, some of which can pose a danger for which we must be aware and cautious."

Quil Ceda school, which serves both students from Marysville and Native American children living on the reservation, has already had workers clear a wide swath around the outside of the cyclone fence, so grounds no longer butt up against the woods.

"Animals don't want to come out in the open," Marysville School District spokeswoman Judy Parker said.

Cougar attacks are rare in Washington, where population estimates for the big sleek cats vary from 2,000 to 4,000.

No human killings have been reported since 1924, although two small children were injured in attacks in Eastern Washington in 1998 and 1999.

Only one or two attacks are reported to state authorities annually.

The most recent was in November, when a cougar pounced on a hunter field-dressing an elk in the Blue Mountains. The hunter's injuries were minor.

Still, public awareness of the animals' predatory capabilities has been heightened by the January headline-grabbing accounts of a stalking cougar in California that disemboweled and killed one recreational mountain bicyclist and mauled another, dragging her off by her face into the bushes.

In Washington, most complaints about cougars still concern predation on livestock or pets. Kittens and small puppies can make quick meals for a big, hungry cat.

But as development booms in the Puget Sound area and humans encroach on cougar territory, the number of sightings is bound to increase. On the Tulalip Reservation, about a dozen cougar sightings have been reported on reservation lands over the past year -- three or four of them in the past month.

Goss said that a year and a half ago, a cougar was run over on Marine Drive in broad daylight, not far from the Tulalip tribal center.

"The more people we have, the more habitat we take away, we're just going to have these encounters," Goss said.

Authorities there are asking anyone who spots a cougar to call the tribal dispatch center at 360-651- 4608.